Next To Me // A Stucky Au

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Hey, Penis!" Peter groaned and looked around at Flash, who was yelling his name from down the corridor. He should've been expecting it, really, it's not like it was anything new. "How many dicks did you suck to get them to take this photo and pretend you were at a wedding?"

Flash thrust his phone in Peter's face, where there was a picture of him, Steve and Bucky from Clint's wedding that Bucky had posted on his instagram. It was caption something along the lines of 'Clint's wedding was great! Please try and ignore the drunks in the background'.

"I'm literally the only one in that photo who hasn't sucked a dick." Peter replied, barely loud enough for Flash to hear. He heard Ned snicker from beside him, and Flash looking at him weirdly.

"Yeah, right," Flash retorted, "like James Barnes would suck a dick." Peter just sighed and turned around, closely followed by Ned as he headed back up the corridor.

"What the hell, man? You had him!" Ned said to Peter, confused. Peter just ignored him. It was going to be a long day.

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The next Sunday was not an ordinary Sunday. On ordinary Sundays, the five of them would go round Peggy's. But today, however, they were out in the shopping centre, with Peter and Steve and Laura as well as them. Bucky and the rest of the avengers had on baseball caps, or sunglasses, or both. He couldn't properly see the rest of the team, but it was better then having to stop every two minutes for fans.

Bucky walked at the back of the group, next to Peter and Steve. He kept so close to Steve that their hands kept bumping into each other's every few seconds, sending electric waves up Bucky's arm. He wished he could just reach out and grab Steve's hand, like any other normal couple, but there was always the risk that someone would recognise him, and he wasn't quite sure if he was ready to come out to the general public yet. Even if they weren't recognised, there was still the risk that they'd be given shit for it, right here on the street.

"Hey, Penis!" He heard a yell from across the street. It didn't seem to be directed at him, but instead at Peter, who was avoiding eye contact at all costs and trying to hide behind Bucky and Steve. He looked back at the boy who had yelled. He seemed to be your typical high school bully, followed by a gaggle of friends, either girls with cake faces of make up, or boys who's ego was the size of the Burj Khalifa.

"Why are you hanging out with a bunch of adults and pretending their the avengers?" He yelled from across the street, causing his gang of friends to snicker loudly.

Bucky saw red. What had Peter done? He seemed like one of the nicest, most enthusiastic kids that Bucky had ever met. He and Nat, who looked dangerously furious, Bucky wouldn't want to be that kid.

"Hello," Nat said, her voice calm, but full of hidden venom. Bucky knew that when Nat was really, really mad she wouldn't scream, or shout, but she would speak quietly, and coldly, like the calm before the storm. "Who are you?"

"I'm Flash Thompson!" Flash replied confidently.

Natasha pulled off her baseball cap. Flash's eyes flashed worriedly in recognition of who she was. "I'm Natasha Ramanoff."

"And I'm James Barnes," Bucky butted in, lowering his sunglasses. "And do you wanna say that again?"

Flash just shook his head, slowly, to nervous to say anything now. "I'll give you a hint," Nat said, her voice dangerously quiet now, "you really, really don't." Flash paled and looked around for his group of friends, who had moved on quickly. He scampered back to them. Satisfied, Nat and Bucky made their way back to the group.

Almost immidiately, Peter tackled them both for a hug. "Thank you so, so, so, so, so much!" He yelled. Natasha and Bucky just pulled him closer to them. This kid had been through more then he let on.

They let Peter choose where they were going to have lunch. They were all expecting him to find some big, fancy place, and they were all pleasingly surprised when he decided on a small, Mediterranean cafe. They all discovered, however that the food was legendary, better then the fancy places and they had decent sized portions.

Bucky was sat at the table, next to Steve, listening to Peggy complain about how Nat had seafood again. She stopped complaining after a while however, because dessert came (were you even meant to have dessert at lunch?) and it was the best. Bucky could see why Peter chose this place.

"I have an announcement," Peggy said as dessert came, and everyone looked at her. "We have decided that we're going to go on tour!" She announced, and there was a moment of silence before it really settled in.

Bucky looked at Steve, almost dreading his reaction. Steve, however, launched himself at Bucky, wrapping his arms around him. "I'm so happy for you!" He said exitedly.

Peggy coughed and everyone soon stopped talking and looked at her. "The band already know this," she started, "but I need to tell you where we're going!" Everyone nodded. "First of all, we're going to three cities in Canada: Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Then we're going to go to Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las vegas. After that, we will be coming home for a break for three days before going to Houston, New Orleans, Memphis, Miami, Atlanta and Washington. Then, we're going to London to play in the O2 area! Our last stop will be New York, for a grand finale!" Everyone started nodding, "Don't worry if you can't remember, I will text you our schedule."

Peter looked relieved at this, and everyone else felt it. Sam called the waiter over. "Can we please have seven glasses of champagne," he asked, and the waiter nodded. A few minutes later the waiter came back.

"I think a celebration is in order!" Sam said loudly to everyone. "To our tour!" He said, holding his glass up. Everyone else copied, knocking their glasses against everyone else's. Even Peter joined in, with his fruit juice. They all drank, and despite Steve putting his drink down in disgust a few seconds later, they were all happy.